Whether you want to believe it or not, people are making their perception of you based off your Facebook profile picture where you’re being silly or your scantily clad Twitter avatar. In the world of social media, first impressions are everything. Especially with employers heading straight to Google to do their research on candidates before hiring, you need to be careful what you’re putting on the Web. (When’s the last time you’ve Googled yourself?)
So what does your avatar really say about you? Whether you’re looking for a job, more followers online or want people to take you seriously, here are 5 ways to create a respectable online presence.
Utilize Private Settings
Sure, you had a good time on vacation with your girls, but that shouldn’t be the first thing people see on your profile. Not at all. If you want to share pictures of certain moments in your life with loved ones, take the time out to create a photo album online and share it with them privately. Acquaintances and professional colleagues probably don’t want that coming up in their timeline. And while networks like Twitter and Facebook have private account settings, everything is being recorded thanks to servers. (Did you know that the Library of Congress preserves every single tweet?) Yeah. Watch yourself.
Good article. I don’t think people really think about how to they come off on their profiles. They look at it as just cute or sexiness when they take certain pics. You might be one of those people who don’t care what others think of you, but when it starts to affect opportunities, then that is a problem.
Great article, I hope millions will read this. I work remotely from home for a large company’s customer service boards and I am always amazed at the photo avatars that people choose for their profile – it automatically links them to their customer service inquiries and it’s so incredibly unprofessional. Once it’s on the internet, it’s there forever. People should think twice before posting photos (or anything else for that matter)
People are so clueless as to how foolish they look on the internet.
Great post! I try to follow all these items as best as possible. Some of my acquaintances argue that my online life is too clean and safe, but I’d rather have it that way. I’m setting myself up for aome really big things in my future and I just can’t take that risk of sharing things with people that do not know me well enough. Privacy settings are my best friend!
I also wanted to point out that in the ‘Avoid Vulgarity’ paragraph there is a small misspelling: I think you meant to write lewd and not lude.
Mattie, awesome article. I see a lot of avatars that are just…wrong!
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So true I agree with this. I have noticed a collation between the type of topics people tweet about, place on their fb status and the visual images they use to represent themselves without getting specific.
I see photos that make me give me that hmmmm ok
face, that give a certain vibe about their character, and I never end up reading or seeing anything to the contrary of the initial negative perception.